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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Envelope Tutorial - How to Make Card Envelopes

Personally, I don’t like the taste of the lick’n’stick kind of envelopes. If I have to use them, I run water over my finger and then run my finger over the envelope glue. If I’m doing a lot of them (like at Christmas), then I wet a Q-Tip and use that! Office supply stores offer water bottles with sponges on the top and other places (like my post office) have a wheel that turns in a mini vat of water.

My dislike of envelope glue is what has driven me to make invitation sized cards (4.25 x 5.5 inches). I can go to Staples and buy a box of envelopes that are peel’n’seal. Now, sometimes, I use envelopes that come from charities to which I donate. I pick a few cards to keep and toss the rest in the recycling box and hoard the envelopes. Then I cut cardstock to fit those dimensions.

Other times, I make my own envelopes. I have tried many sizes. Most sizes were fed to me. There were instructions that came with my Scor Pal and my Enveloper paper scoring boards. However, before I splurged on either of them, I used to make my own envelopes. I prefer my own template over the Scor Pal and the Enveloper. The Enveloper makes triangle flap closures and I prefer the rectangles. As for the Scor Pal instructions, I like my side flaps a little wider than theirs. Here are my dimensions for a standard invitation sized card:

Click for larger view. PICTURE IS NOT TO SCALE!

Start with a paper that is 7.75 inches wide by 10 inches long.

With the 7.75 inch side at the top of your page, score down the 10 inch length at 1 inch in from either side of the 7.75 inch width.

Now turn the paper so the 10 inch side is the top of the page. Score down the 7.75 inch length of your page at 2.5 inches and 6.75 inches.

Cut away the corners along their fold lines to create 1 inch wide flaps in the middle of your page.

Use a corner rounder everywhere.

The 2.5 inch flap is your finished envelope flap.

The opposite side is the bottom of your envelope. Fold in the side flaps and adhere the bottom of the envelope to the flaps. (Make sure you only put glue along the edges of the bottom of the envelope and not on the flaps because the bottom is shorter than your side flaps.)

Sometimes, I make bigger cards. I try not to exceed 6 inches on any card’s dimensions so that I can always get at least two cards out of a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock. Then I had to make an envelope to match. Here are the envelope dimensions to hold a card that is 6 inches by 4.5 inches:

Start with a paper that is 8.25 inches wide by 11 inches long.

With the 8.25 inch side at the top of your page, score down the 11 inch length at 1 inch in from either side of the 8.25 inch width.

Now turn the paper so the 11 inch side is the top of the page. Score down the 8.25 inch length of your page at 3.5inches and 8.25 inches.

Cut away the corners along their fold lines to create 1 inch wide flaps in the middle of your page.

Use a corner rounder everywhere.

The 2.75 inch flap is your finished envelope flap.

The opposite side is the bottom of your envelope. Fold in the side flaps and adhere the bottom of the envelope to the flaps. (Make sure you only put glue along the edges of the bottom of the envelope and not on the flaps because the bottom is shorter than your side flaps.)

Here is a picture of the comparative sizes of the Standard A2 (1/4 fold) card envelope to the larger one:

Now, I have also made a couple sizes of mini envelopes for my own use as thank-you notes. It’s a fabulous way to use up scrap paper! A super tiny envelope is 2 inches by 1.5 inches. I generally put a single sided (i.e. not folded) note in these. To make this envelope, here are the dimensions:

Start with a paper that is 3 inches wide by 3.5 inches long.

With the 3 inch side at the top of your page, score down the 3.5 inch length at 0.5 inches and at 2.5 inches.

Now turn the paper so the 3.5 inch side is the top of the page. Score down the 3 inch length of your page at 1.25 inches and 2.75 inches.

Cut away the corners along their fold lines to create 0.5 inch wide flaps in the middle of your page.

Use a corner rounder everywhere (if you have a tiny one).

The 0.75 inch flap is your finished envelope flap.

The opposite side is the bottom of your envelope. Fold in the side flaps and adhere the bottom of the envelope to the flaps. (Make sure you only put glue along the edges of the bottom of the envelope and not on the flaps because the bottom is shorter than your side flaps.)

A little bit larger to hold mini folded notes is an envelope whose dimensions are 3 inches by 2.25 inches. Here are the dimensions to use:

Start with a paper that is 4 inches wide by 5 inches long.

With the 4 inch side at the top of your page, score down the 5 inch length at 0.5 inches and at 3.5 inches.

Now turn the paper so the 5 inch side is the top of the page. Score down the 4 inch length of your page at 1 inch and 3.25 inches.

Cut away the corners along their fold lines to create 0.5 inch wide flaps in the middle of your page.

Use a corner rounder everywhere (if you have a tiny one).

The 1 inch flap is your finished envelope flap.

The opposite side is the bottom of your envelope. Fold in the side flaps and adhere the bottom of the envelope to the flaps. (Make sure you only put glue along the edges of the bottom of the envelope and not on the flaps because the bottom is shorter than your side flaps.)

I hope this is helpful to some of you! You can use almost any papers to make these envelopes now! You can use scrapbook papers, old calendar pages, a good quality thick wrapping paper, or other papers you can find! (I would avoid newsprint though, as the ink may rub off on the card inside.)

Thank-you for visiting!

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About Me

Chartered Professional Accountant by profession; paper crafter by passion. I
occasionally teach card-making workshops and other paper art classes and donate a portion of the amounts raised to a local animal rescue. Crafting keeps me sane! I love paper die cuts
and sometimes design my own. If you have any questions, you can contact
me from one of my shops, linked from my blog: www.fairycardmaker.com